The present invention relates to fingerprint storage, comparison and display apparatus and, in particular, to an assembly for displaying in side-by-side and overlapped relation to one another a pair of fingerprints and whereby a match can be ascertained.
Over the years, the forensic sciences and judicial system have depended on fingerprint comparisons by way of circumstantially and demonstratively proving or disproving the guilt of a potential criminal. That is, upon matching certain indicia of a known fingerprint with those of an unknown fingerprint, it is possible with some certainty to link the fingerprints of a known party with latent prints found at a crime scene. Although in themselves not determinative of guilt or innocence, such evidence may circumstantially link with other evidence to prove/disprove the owner of a located set of prints.
As noted in Applicant's pending U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,753, historically fingerprints have been obtained by requiring a person to submit to an original duplication process wherein the fingertips are separately inked and brought into contact in a rolling motion with an opaque card to create a record thereof. Difficulties are however incurred in using and managing such cards with the potential duplication of entries under different aliases, among other possible duplications. Such cards are also rather tedious and awkward to work with for purposes of conducting a comparison and maintaining a viable recording system. That is, the paper card stock bearing the fingerprints over time tends to deteriorate, not to mention the problems of displaying the prints in an enlarged format. Although, an opaque projector might be used to enlarge and project images therefrom for comparison and demonstrative display, the clarity and resolution is not sufficient for many proceedings. Accordingly, Applicant's in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,753, provides not only a long-lived transparent/adhesive carrier storage media for maintaining a permanent record of such prints but also one from which high resolution copies might be made with comparable clarity and definition, even when enlarged.
One particular circumstance where print records of the foregoing type find particular advantage is in the study and projection of demonstrative evidence of a comparative match, such as is frequently desirable in courtroom proceedings. Although, individual slide reproductions can be made of each separate print which, in turn, can be displayed via a slide projector on a suitable screen, conventional slide projectors do not readily facilitate the juxtaposition of a pair of fingerprints in an overlay fashion.
Although, one may manually and separately adjust a pair of projectors to focus one on top of the other, this normally is effected only through a rather tedious and cumbersome set of adjustments which requires the tilting and rotating of one or both of the projectors. Accordingly, a need exists for an assembly whereby side-by-side and overlay comparisons can be made of prints of known and unknown origin.